Soulmark
by Lainpinky131
Summary: When the letters slowly started to appear on Clint's body—beginning with a 'P'—he had no idea what to make of it. It was only after a mission in Sokovia to reclaim Loki's scepter from HYDRA and an unfortunate encounter with a pair of enhanced punks did a certain name—out of nowhere—come up in the debriefing. (Minor-Spoilers! Hawksilver)
1. Beginning With a 'P'

**Soulmark**

* * *

When the letters slowly started to appear on Clint's body—beginning with a ' _P_ '—he had no idea what to make of it.

Years later, with the name ' _Pietro Maximoff_ ' written clear as day on the tanned skin of his shoulder blade, the SHIELD agent had just about forgotten about the name and when he'd meet them. It no longer seemed important to him. Clint wasn't as young as he wished he was, and constantly being surrounded by super soldiers, Asgardians, and men flying around in metal cans, made him feel even older than he was. Too old and too late to ever meet his soulmate.

It was only after a mission in Sokovia to reclaim Loki's scepter from HYDRA and an unfortunate encounter with a pair of enhanced punks did a certain name—out of nowhere—come up in the debriefing. Clint was, well… taken back, to say the least. Far from disappointed, but more than surprised.

That cocky kid with incredible speed who had been working with HYDRA and now Ultron, the one with the crazy weird sister, that Pietro Maximoff was his soulmate? Clint didn't buy it. But after a very complicated mission of ' _Distract-Ultron-to-get-Ultron-Jr-and-stop-a-train-from-killing-everyone-oh-and-find-Nat-too_ ', Cap had thought it was a good idea to bring the same two kids who had been previously trying to kill them into Avengers Tower just based on their word of wanting to stop Ultron.

So here Clint was with his apparent soulmate.

Before he said or did something stupid that he'd later regret, Clint wanted to be absolutely 100% positive that he was Pietro's soulmate. And now looked like a good enough time to affirm or deny what the blonde had been thinking before he got too attached to his potential bachelor.

* * *

Pietro had been zooming through the tower as soon as he arrived, curiously exploring everything he could get into. He was nothing but a blue and white blur to everyone who saw him. However, on the rare occasions that the speedster was in fact standing still for more than half a second, Clint could see a definite letter trailing down the crook of his neck before disappearing down the collar of his form fitting t-shirt.

The letter was a ' _C_ '.

In the kitchen, Pietro's eyes were glued to the refrigerator as he pulled out the remainders of the leftovers from the breakfast Sam prepared for the Avengers earlier that day. He didn't seem to pay any attention to the archer sitting at the counter.

It was only when the speedster spoke did Clint realize he had been staring.

"I hope you are not planning to eat me," Pietro said, a grin playing with his lips as he spoke into the fridge.

"W-what?" Clint stammered out, Pietro's lilted Sokovian voice bringing him out of his reverie.

"You look hungry and you have not taken your eyes off of me since I entered the room," Pietro teased as he turned to face the blonde and mock him with that stupidly sexy smile that made him even more irresistible. Damn brat was so hot, it was unbearably distracting to the archer.

"Very funny, Maximoff. No, I was just wondering…" he trailed off.

Pietro cocked an eyebrow and stared at the blonde, waiting for him to finish.

Tomorrow the team would go back to Sokovia to defeat Ultron, hopefully for the last time. He had no idea what would happen to them once they got there. Clint felt like if he didn't ask now, he might lose his chance of ever asking. So he took a breath and met Pietro's eyes.

"Your soulmark," Clint asked, gesturing a finger to his own neck to indicate the name littered down the Sokovian's toned chest, "I was wondering whose name it is."

If it was Clint's name, then Pietro would understand what the blonde was getting at. If not, then it was simply an ally asking an innocent question. There was no harm in that, right? Though, Clint was almost dreading the answer if it were something like a ' _Cady_ ' or a ' _Connor_ ' or something along those lines. Dreading that the name was going to anyone's but his.

Yes, that was possible.

While it was extremely rare, there have been situations where a person's soulmate could have a completely different soulmate entirely. Clint certainly hoped that this rarity did not apply to him.

"Before I tell you mine, I want to know yours," Pietro said, placing the plate of leftovers in the microwave and punching in a set of numbers.

Clint paused as his mind tried to think up a way out of his question. This was not where he wanted the conversation to go, but right now, it appeared to be unavoidable.

 _Oh, fuck it._

Hesitantly, he rolled up the left sleeve of his dark shirt to expose the neatly written name that decorated his bicep.

"It's uhm… It's you," he said, and Pietro's cerulean eyes widened with surprise, "You didn't see that coming?" Clint remarked, flashing a half grin as he rolled down his sleeve.

Pietro coughed, "I think I should have," he said, and pulled down the collar of his tight white and navy shirt and revealed the word ' _Clint_ ' to the other. The room fell into silence.

"Well… this is awkward," Clint blurted out.

Pietro chuckled, "I can't imagine why. We both finally found our soulmates. Although, I never thought you'd be an Avenger, let alone one who is friends with Tony Stark. Or this old," he teased, taking a step toward the archer, "But hey, like wine, men get better with age."

Clint barked out a laugh, "Never thought you'd be such a shit," Clint responded, crossing his arms with a smug grin.

"It's all part of my charm! You have to admit that I am quite charming," the speedster said with a toothy grin, taking another step closer to the other and resting the palm of his hands on the bronze marble of the countertop.

"Oh jesus. Now you're starting to sound like Tony."

"I hope not," he said, his pale blue eyes sharp with a scowl even when the rest of his face still sported that stunning smile of his.

"So, uh… Now what?" Clint asked.

Before he even blinked, Pietro leaned over the counter and placed a soft, instantaneous peck on the blonde's lips. Clint didn't even have enough time to return the kiss or react in any way before the speedster pulled away, a pink flush staining his soft features.

"We see how this goes," he spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, his face carrying a mischievous grin.

Clint rolled his eyes and watched that stupid Sokovian punk zoom off out the door and down the hall until he was out of sight.

"Doesn't take anything slow, does he?" Clint chuckled to himself and stood from the stool, about ready to walk out of the room when he heard the microwave beep finished.

"And he forgot his food."


	2. Wiggly-Woo

It's been said that everyone has a special connection with their soulmate, a connection stronger than a lifetime of friendship, one that can be formed after only days of being together. Only now did Clint realize it was true.

Damn brat had barreled into his life so suddenly and was gone just as fast. Too fast.

After any other mission, Tony would have thrown a week long party which all the Avengers would have been invited to, along with countless amounts of supermodels—despite being with Pepper, old habits die hard. But a celebration of their most recent saving of the world would have been too inappropriate, even for Tony. Jarvis was gone, becoming their newest teammate the Vision and being replaced with F.R.I.D.A.Y, Banner had abandoned them after the Battle of Sokovia, and the entire team was in mourning, Clint and especially Wanda worst of all.

Sitting at the bar in the lounge of Avengers Tower, Clint nursed the glass mug in his hand, rubbing the skin of his left shoulder with the other, the same patch of skin where Pietro's name had been. Natasha sat down next to him as the archer took a sip from his drink.

"Hey," she said, unnoticeable worry lining her voice, "How're you holding up?"

The blonde greeted his red-haired friend with a gesture of his hand and followed it with a shrug.

"Fantastic. How about you?" He asked, obviously not wanting to talk about himself right now, even to Natasha.

"I'm not here to talk about me, I'm here to make sure you're doing okay," she said, "You should remember that you took a hit too."

"Oh, did I? Can't believe I completely forgot about being shot. Y'know, I never would've noticed the _excruciating_ pain in my side if you didn't point it out to me," Clint mocked with a feigned smiled and a chuckle.

Natasha snorted but said nothing.

"You shouldn't bother with me, Nat," Clint continued, "I'm really not the person you should be worrying about," turning his head to see Wanda trudge out of the room, no doubt going to see Pietro again, "Kid over there just lost her brother. I have no right to whine, especially since…" he trailed, the words he was unable to say caught in the lump in his throat.

It had been a day and a half since they defeated Ultron, and in between the team's recoveries from their wounds and the cleanup of the entire city, no one had gotten around to having a funeral or even cleaning his body. Wanda didn't seem to want anyone to touch her brother and the team didn't really see it as a priority anyway.

"It wasn't your fault, Clint," Natasha spoke softly, pouring herself her own drink, "You said it yourself, you couldn't have known what he was going to do. It was his choice."

"It was the wrong one," he said, gritting his teeth as he tossed his drink off the bar top. Both assassins ignored the glass as it hit the ground and shattered.

"…Would your soulmate have agreed with you?" Natasha asked, taking a sip.

Clint sighed.

The problem was that Pietro _wouldn't_ regret saving him. Damn brat had thought of Clint as more important than himself, and the archer knew that no one would have convinced the speedster otherwise.

That stupid twenty-something kid with superspeed, a sister to look out for, and his whole life ahead of him would never regret saving his soulmate, even if his soulmate was a middle-aged assassin with nothing but a dog, an assassin he'd just met, didn't know, and had been previously trying to kill. It was incredibly, unbelievably, and undeniably stupid.

No matter what anyone thought or said, Clint knew Pietro shouldn't have been the one to die.

"We weren't even friends. I shouldn't even care so much…"

"But you do," Natasha finished for him.

Clint looked up at her and sighed as he felt a sensation in his arm. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it when Natasha rested a hand on his bicep.

"Clint, your arm," she said, alarmed.

The archer turned his head and two watched the faintest traces of letters appear on his shoulder.

* * *

Natasha and Clint ran out of the lounge after Wanda. Through the open windowed hallway, the pair slammed open the door of the med bay to find Wanda bawling into the chest of her smiling brother. Her smiling, breathing—and best of all— **alive** brother.

Pietro looked up at the two assassins who stood gaping in the doorway and grinned, "Bet you didn't—"

"Shut the hell up," Clint interrupted him. The speedster barked out a laugh as he continued to pet his sister's hair.

"You're back. You're really back," Wanda muttered over and over again, her sobs slowly calming to a soft cry.

"I said I wasn't going to leave you," he whispered, kissing her forehead as he pulled his sister into a tighter embrace.

"I hate to ruin this touching moment, but why aren't you… deader?" Natasha questioned, crossing her arms as she slowly approached the returned-from-the-grave Maximoff twin.

"I saved him," Wanda stated blatantly as she pulled her face away from her brother's blood-soaked shirt, her eyes red and puffy from crying so hard but a smile on her lips, "With my powers. I… _made_ him alive."

"So you, what, brought him back to life?" Natasha asked.

"I think it is more complicated than that. I do not know exactly what I did. But he's back," she said, her smile growing even wider.

"Whatever you did, as long as the kid's not a zombie or anything, I'm good with it," Clint added in, his face almost mirroring Wanda's.

The archer really wasn't paying much attention to the conversation that Natasha was having with Wanda. He didn't care. His eyes and thoughts were too lost in the sight of seeing that stupidly sexy Maximoff speedster again.

"I agree with the old man," Pietro butted in, sending the blonde one of his cheeky grins that Clint hadn't even realized he'd been missing.

Clint opened his mouth to make some sort of snarky retort, but he found he couldn't when his own dark eyes met with the speedster's pale ones. Those crystal-clear sky-blue orbs softened and the two just stared.

Natasha seemed to catch on to the atmosphere quick and gave Wanda a little nudge with her elbow, "C'mon. Let's give the lovebirds some privacy," she said, sending Clint a wink and chuckling at his soft groan. Wanda gave her brother one last hug and a kiss on the cheek before following her fellow Avenger out of the room.

Now alone, the conversation had taken up an awkward silence, neither of them knowing what to say next. Clint's gaze scanned up and down Pietro's body, his eyes stopping at each of the bullet holes in his clothes that revealed nothing but the smooth, blood-free skin underneath. He'll need some new ones, that's for sure. His shirt was pretty much a goner. Clint wasn't exactly sure why he was thinking about the kid's clothing right now, but it kept his mind busy and away from the silence that filled the room.

Pietro decided to speak first and end the reticence, "Are you okay?"

Clint spluttered, "Me? You're covered in blood! I should be the one asking you that," he said, walking closer to the Sokovian and leaning on the side of one of the tables, a smile on his face that was refusing to leave.

"Well, I'm obviously okay, but…" he said, silently tugging at the sleeve of his shirt.

The archer only now realized that the bandages on his side were quite obvious through his dark tank top. Dr. Cho's cradle had been damaged pretty heavily when Vision had popped out of it so the team was being forced to heal the old fashion way.

"I'm fine. Just got hit a little, nothing I couldn't handle. And most people don't walk away from being dead with an okay. They're, y'know, dead. They don't walk away at all," Clint said, using an over the top gesture to add emphasis on the word _'_ dead'.

"Like _you_ , most people. You would not have been able to walk off forty shots to the chest."

"Neither would you if your sister hadn't done her wiggly-woo on you," Clint said, waving his fingers at the speedster.

"Wiggly-woo?" Pietro barked out a laugh at the archer's nickname for his sister's hex powers.

"Well, it's better than saying 'sparkly red stuff'," he said, "And it's because of that 'sparkly red stuff' that you're alive."

"You keep saying that, but I do not remember dying. What happened exactly?" Pietro asked, his lilted voice taking on a serious tone.

Clint froze. Even with the kid standing and talking right in front of him, he still was unable to think of that moment at Sokovia without the feeling of his heart being wrenched out of his chest.

"You…" he gulped, "You took a few dozen shots… but the kid made it out okay. Wanda very nearly wiped out a whole chunk of the army with her powers alone when she felt you… die."

Pietro was next to him then, his hand gently holding Clint's arms.

"I couldn't believe that you sacrificed yourself to save me and that kid…" the archer continued.

"Clint…" Pietro trailed off.

"You nearly died because of me—"

"No, don't say that!" Pietro nearly yelled as his hand grasped the side of Clint's cheek so the archer would look him in the eyes, "I chose to save you, old man. It wasn't your choice or anyone else's. It was my choice. I didn't have time to think of anything else. I just knew I couldn't let my soulmate die… My sister and I are tough and you're one of us now. Maximoffs look out for each other."

Clint wanted to look away, but the Sokovian's pale eyes were so strong and intense that he was afraid that if he did look away, the life and energy in those beautiful blue orbs would fade away.

So under his breath, Clint whispered, "…Idiot…"

Pietro breathed out a chuckle, "As advertised."

That got a laugh out of the blonde as the two smiled at each other, smiled at the warmth and comfort radiating off of their soulmate's bodies. Before Pietro could react, the speedster found himself wrapped tightly in the strong arms of his archer. Instantly, he returned the embrace as Clint whispered into his ear, "Glad you're back, kid."

Pietro smiled, "Of course. After all, I did tell you that we'd see how this goes."


End file.
